Amazon BR/DVD movies

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xpd

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#302864 29-Dec-2022 19:54

Whats the story with buying movie boxsets etc from Amazon.... are they legit or knock-offs ?

Seem to see some popular sets for around $40NZD, yet to source locally, I'm looking at $100+. Looking at reviews of the Amazon stuff, seems to be mixed opinions, lot of people saying theyre happy with the purchase, and a few saying theyre dodgy knock offs etc.

Does Amazon allow every man and his dog sell crap with no verification of legality ?

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XPD / Gavin

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toejam316

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#3015172 29-Dec-2022 19:58

It's always a gamble, Amazon has warehouses that they'll hold stock for other sellers in, and so the other sellers get fake items, submit them into stock, and Amazon lets it get mixed into the legit stuff.

If you're willing to take the gamble, Amazon is a great option and you can return stuff. If you don't want to gamble, take a look at JB Hifi's Australian site, they'll post stuff to NZ and usually the pricing is way less horrific.

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JimmyH

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#3015176 29-Dec-2022 20:12

The fact that it's just a fraction of the local price doesn't, of itself, mean it's a knockoff. Compared to the US we are totally gouged on pricing, and have been for ages. Amazon has a pretty good returns policy of the merchandise is fake, so that's no reason not to take a punt.

The only "gotcha" is zoning. Make sure your player is capable of playing US-zone DVDs and BRs* (there are models that are zone selectable for both, just check first and above all avoid Sony which is totally locked down), otherwise your shiny disc might not be playable. You also need to make sure you have a TV that can cope with 29.97/30/60 FPS US framerates, as well as the 25/50 that is common here, otherwise you won't have a great experience. Bust most sets bought in the last 5 or so years should be fine.

(* or just do what I do and rip them to network storage using your PC. Both more convenient, and sidesteps the whole player zoning issue. I haven't put an actual disc in a player for 3-4 years, despite owning over 500).

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3015178 29-Dec-2022 20:24

JimmyH:

You also need to make sure you have a TV that can cope with 29.97/30/60 FPS US framerates, as well as the 25/50 that is common here, otherwise you won't have a great experience. Bust most sets bought in the last 5 or so years should be fine.

Been importing direct since 1998 (many DVDs and BluRays from Amazon in later years). Frame rates have never been an issue for the TV. PAL DVD players will handle NTSC (IIRC, the spec requires this), assuming there is no region coding issues. I've had some issues with 25fps content with various versions/platforms of Kodi, so in my experience you're more likely to have issues with PAL content if using a media device of some kind for playback.

JimmyH

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#3015223 30-Dec-2022 09:00

I have never had an issue with frame rates on a BR/DVD player. However, I did have an issue on one of my older TVs in about 2006. The one in the living room would only do NZ framerates, but funnily enough the off-brand cheapie in the bedroom would cope just fine. Which meant that some of my imports could only be watched in one room.

Any TV purchased in the last 10 years should be fine. Older sets can be a bit hit and miss. Funnily enough, most US TVs won't cope with PAL frame rates, whereas the same model sold here will do both US and PAL frame rates just fine. I think that is (or at least was) a deliberate strategy to preserve distribution models by stopping cheaper US TVs "leaking" into other markets.

I'm using Chromecasts and Rokus (the ultra) for my media players. Previously I used WD TV Live units. All of them coped with US framerates just fine.

PsychoSmiley

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#3015256 30-Dec-2022 11:21

For BDs historically I've ordered off Amazon UK as they're the same region as NZ/AU.

4K discs as far as I'm aware are all region free so get wherever is cheapest.

richms

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#3015260 30-Dec-2022 11:40

JimmyH:

I have never had an issue with frame rates on a BR/DVD player. However, I did have an issue on one of my older TVs in about 2006. The one in the living room would only do NZ framerates, but funnily enough the off-brand cheapie in the bedroom would cope just fine. Which meant that some of my imports could only be watched in one room.

Any TV purchased in the last 10 years should be fine. Older sets can be a bit hit and miss. Funnily enough, most US TVs won't cope with PAL frame rates, whereas the same model sold here will do both US and PAL frame rates just fine. I think that is (or at least was) a deliberate strategy to preserve distribution models by stopping cheaper US TVs "leaking" into other markets.

I'm using Chromecasts and Rokus (the ultra) for my media players. Previously I used WD TV Live units. All of them coped with US framerates just fine.

Fat fingered the answer button there for a second. Oops.

I have seen some panasonic TVs that absolutely butcher playback of 60FPS stuff when using the internal youtube or other players on them. When the friend complained to panasonic about that they had some BS answer that NZ was a pal country so that is what it was set for and no way to change it, so the TV went back and was replaced with an equally underwhelming samsung (there is very little in the way of good small TVs available) - The panasonic was "ok" on the HDMI input but the samsung was well ahead of it for the smoothness of the image processing on HDMI, so it was a win all around.

I am yet to encounter a region issue on any UK import bluray I have looked at. Even a few recent DVDs that I have had passed my way from overseas have been fine on the xbox so I guess they are finally just giving up on the obstacle when making discs. Remember it was from an era when they were worried about resellers importing discs for resale, not personal imports so much. The marketplace has changed since DVD was invented and people are buying things from all over the place as the norm now.

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Behodar

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#3015356 30-Dec-2022 17:43

PsychoSmiley: For BDs historically I've ordered off Amazon UK as they're the same region as NZ/AU.

4K discs as far as I'm aware are all region free so get wherever is cheapest.

Just be careful with action movies as the UK censorship office likes to take the scissors to a lot of stuff.